Under a haystack
by Mackenzie. P. Ghost
Summary: Pitch has learned his lesson. The Guardians are too strong to be defeated from the outside, so he sets about destroying them from within. The first irritable do-gooder on his list? Jack Frost.
1. Chapter 1

So I took my kids to see Rise of the Guardians over the weekend. Clearly I have had better idea because I was possibly more engrossed than they were. So here I am, writing again for the first time in what feels like forever.

Things shall be equal parts friendship/hurt/comfort/fluff/angst/adventure with a dash of Pitch being a melodramatic (and uninspired) uber villain thrown in for good measure.

* * *

Little Boy Blue

Christmas at the Pole was quite possibly the most bizarre experience Jack Frost had ever been swept up in. He'd seen wars planned with less attention to detail and brilliant heists pulled off with fewer contingencies. From the center of his bustling hive of activity, North controlled all, bellowing orders in his heavy accent, a sense of urgency and excitement rendering much of what he said completely indecipherable.

With only three days to go, Jack had taken to haunting the stables, entertaining the reindeer and trying to keep out of the way. The invitation North had extended to him consisted of a roof over his head for the first time in centuries, and it wasn't just seasonal, but Jack was more than aware of his own extraordinary ability to find and create trouble. As this was the first Christmas since Pitch had come so close to destroying them all, North was on a personal mission to make it the most glorious holiday on record and Jack would do anything not to spoil it.

He was also curious, though. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he'd been trying to sneak into the Pole for years, so the chance to see Christmas up close and personal was too big a thrill to pass. He kept as out of the way as he could, genuinely enjoying being with the reindeers, who as seasoned professionals were taking North's slightly neurotic flailing without so much of a twitch.

On the few occasions Jack did head inside, he had quickly learned it safest to fly through the corridors to avoid both stepping on an elf, or being stepped on himself: yetis were just as heavy as they looked, and some of them clearly hadn't forgiven Jack for the years he had spent making their lives difficult.

It wasn't an entirely one-sided arrangement between himself and North. Jack got to have as much or as little company as he chose; the door always open to him, his room always made up. In return, North got what he had long been lacking – a child to test his toys on.

"Really not a kid, you know." Jack had halfheartedly protested with a roll of his eyes and a slight grin. Even he wasn't about to turn down the chance to get his hands on some of the coolest toys in existence.

North had clapped him merrily on the back. "You are youngest Guardian. That close enough for me." Then he had promptly directed a beautiful red and black toy train to whiz past Jack's ear. Any protests Jack might have felt compelled to make were quickly forgotten. He had no memory of ever playing with toys and only a fool would argue with Santa after all.

A set of firm jaws clamped down on his hand. Jack had let his mind wander and failed to pay attention to Dancer XIX. The reindeer probably hadn't minded Jack's lack of attention so much as his failure to produce any extra carrots.

Jack yelped and tugged his hand free with a glare at the animal. "How can you still be hungry? I fed you like an hour ago!" Clearly when it came to letting him keep them company, the reindeer's generosity lasted only as long as the carrots.

"Alright! Alright!"

North wouldn't mind him sneaking down to the kitchens for some carrots. He'd seemed grateful that Jack had taken to looking after the animals and it wasn't as if he was going to instigate another Yeti Union strike. He'd find some elves to help him, and he'd look after the ravenous beasts himself. They'd need to be well fed of they were going to haul North's 'Most Excellent and Epic Christmas Extravaganza' all the way around the world.

Sticking to the less used corridors, Jack still encountered half of North's workforce. He recognized Phil and waved merrily. The yeti waved back unabashedly until he caught himself, scowled at Jack, and turned to yell at the closest worker for not keeping the paint in between the lines. Jack left him to it, chuckling all the way to the main hall.

From there it was a matter of navigating the bikes that rode themselves, the balls that shot backwards and forwards, the automated robots, the self motorized train sets, the dancing dolls and the stumbling teddy bears as they walked off the production line towards the trio of yetis wielding wrapping paper with the precision of trained swordsmen. Wrapping had never been something to really grab Jack's interest, but even he could admire the artistry of some of the trickier shaped wraps.

He hovered in the doorway long enough to get a red ribbon slapped on his back and made a quick escape as he tried to untangle himself.

North's booming voice grew louder as he made his way towards the center of the tower. By the sound of things, not everything was going according to plan. Jack winched at the sudden stream of butchered Russian sayings that formed North's unique type of cursing and stepped back into the shadows just in time to avoid a stampede of yetis all clutching armfuls of tangled yoyos.

"Ai, what is this? You make elephant out of fly! I do it myself. No, no, out from under boot you go. Shoo."

Cringing in sympathy for the subject or North's ire, Jack continued to make his way down the stairs. The workshop was no less magical for all the hurried back and forth preparations. He ducked under the tail of a sparkling dragon shaped kite and carefully avoid catching anyone's attention. North might be one of the gentlest people on the planet but his booming voice, thick accent and enormous build made it hard to remember that sometimes. Jack wasn't afraid of him, he just…didn't want to get caught in the middle.

Behind him an elf squawked and tripped over the untangled end of a garland of fairy lights. He went down, and like a bowling pin, took out the five elves in front of him.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. The elves were a notoriously hardy bunch, almost impossible to actually hurt, and so their antics were endless sources of amusement to a mischievous spirit like Jack.

When he caught a glimpse of Phil though, the humor dropped. The large yeti was carrying ten perfectly wrapped presents, all neatly wrapped and beautifully decorated. They towered so high they blocked his view of the elf-strewn carnage at the foot of the stairs.

Jack followed the yeti's path with his eyes, seeing the mound of hundreds of similarly wrapped gifts, and the inevitable outcome should Phil reach the base of the stairs.

Shouting out a warning, Jack turned the surface of the steps to ice. The yeti went down, presents flying over his head only to be caught in the gentle breeze Jack summoned with a thought and carried down to rest neatly among their fellows. He even managed to steer Phil away from the elf pile and into a neatly filled regiment of soft toys all waiting to be wrapped.

He let his staff rest between his feet, a smile of satisfaction pulling at his mouth when he looked at the salvaged gifts.

It was a smile that turned to horror as, his attention occupied with Phil and the toys, two more yetis stumbled upon the ice. They shot down, across the hall, and straight into the middle of the pile of gifts. The following racket could be heard all across the Pole. It was a sound only dwarfed by North's bellow of frustration.

Dressed in his usual reds, North had his sleeves rolled up and a paintbrush behind his ear. He took one look at the destroyed gifts, the disorientated yetis and the downed elves.

Then at the icy stairs and finally Jack himself.

It was Easter all over again. He had only been trying to help, and look what he had done.

"Jack, what did you do?"

Jack only heard the words and not the gentle voice they were spoken with. The look on North's face was right out of his memories and unbidden Tooth's sad eyes and Bunny's angrily twitching ears rose to the forefront of his mind.

He opened his mouth to stammer an excuse, but none formed. He had nothing.

Calling the wind to his aid, Jack leapt into the air and tumbled gracelessly through the closest open window.

"Jack!" North shouted after him.

Jack paid no attention. He threw himself to the wind and climbed higher in the air. He let the cold embrace him and tried desperately to control himself. Tears stung his eyes, but it was anger that fueled him the most.

He couldn't even do this one thing right…

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

It's a very short part I am afraid, but the next chapter is much meatier and Pitch makes an unwelcome appearance. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are a great way of feeding my soul, and a full soul types faster!

* * *

Christmas came and went without a hitch. Children across the world awoke to find Santa's lovingly wrapped gifts waiting for them beneath the tree or at the foot of the bed. Fairy lights were strewn, candles lit, and for the one night of the year, everything North touched turned to pure magic.

Now, the reindeers stabled and the yeti's given the day off, North only had to contend with a cluster of cheering elves and his own weary feet.

Sandy would no doubt arrive soon, sweet dreams at his command just waiting to lull North to sleep. Already thoughts and excitement for next year were brewing in his mind.

Cookies and eggnog were shoved into his hands by his enthusiastic helpers. He drained his glass in two large gulps and shoveled a mouthful of sweet sugar sprinkled cookies into his mouth.

Soon, bed. The elves would party all night. He knew by now that they were all aware enough to know that if they disturbed him, he'd string them up by their ears to make festive garlands.

Light was already starting to creep into the high windows. Another morning, another year.

Feeling a sense of urgency, North left the elves to their celebrations and headed to the top of the tower. It was coolest there, wide open windows letting the wind whistle through the corridors. It was where Jack had chosen his room, shy and unsure, convinced North was making a mistake by offering him a home.

He hadn't seen the boy since the incident with the yetis and he was still at a loss as to why Jack had been so quick to run. No one had been harmed, and ribbon was hardly irreplaceable. Jack had caused nothing close to the destruction North himself often did when testing out new toys. Nothing was on fire, no limbs were missing, it was, in reality, no more chaotic than the run up to the holiday ever was.

But Jack had run and still not returned. His room was empty and the freezing chill was unbearable without his sunny presence. North stood in the doorway, noting the carefully made bed and neatly kept collection of ice sculptures on the windowsill. Jack had no possessions of his own but the ones he made for himself. They were exquisitely designed, as detailed and unique as the snowflakes Jack so lovingly crafted. North's favorite was of the little girl in the dress, who spun on her toes and twirled in the air. Jack didn't even know his sister's name, but her face was forever etched on his heart now, and that ice formed girl was how he dreamed she had been.

Creeping closer to the end of Jack's bed, North pulled a parcel from inside his heavy coat. His last delivery of the night, every child now accounted for.

The paper was blue and the ribbon silver. Phil had designed the delicate white design printed on the label, inspiration taken from Jack's own creations. On the back, in North's own curling cursive, the words _Merry Christmas Jack._ Usually gifts were signed 'love from Santa', but North had merely finished the message with an arrow facing upwards, his own shorthand form of a signature. Jack would understand.

Or he would, if he ever came back and opened it.

North had thought long and hard about what Jack's gift should be. No longer on the Naughty List as promised, the first present Jack received in three hundred years needed to be special.

In the end, it had been Baby Tooth who had provided the answer. The little hummingbird had become quite taken with Jack over the past year. They all had.

North set the box carefully down on the bed. "Merry Christmas Jack Frost." He said, his eyes on the horizon, the rising sun, and the glittering golden mist that announced Sandy's presence.


	3. Chapter 3

Random Fact: Doing some research into cold, inhospitable places, I learned that there is a town in Norway called Hell and it freezes over for about a third of the year, thus proving Jack's sense of humor is more than a little on the nose.

Another Random Fact: Reviews make this author as happy as a lobster in a warm bath. Thanks!

* * *

Usually when Jack was upset he sought out familiar places. On the rare occasion it had happened since becoming a Guardian he'd returned to Jamie and the lake. He'd spent so long there, created so many dreams in his head in which it was his home, where his family belonged, that the comfort of the familiar was always something to drive away the doubts that sometimes plagued him.

This time though the familiar was no comfort. The reminder of his old life was a reminder of how far he had to fall - and how inevitable his failure was.

Jack tucked stray strands of his wayward hair under the edge of his hood as the storm raged around him. Volatile weather was a problem when he lost control of emotions, and it was always at its worst when Jack felt sad or angry. Bunny and his Blizzard of '68 was a perfect example. What the irritable Pooka always failed to mention while ranting about the incident was that '68 was actually _1768 _and Jack, almost fifty years to the day of his birth (or death, as it happened) and close to insanity with the pain of his isolation had only caused the storm in the hope of some attention. It had worked, and even Bunny's anger was better than nothing. He'd learned quickly that the Guardians could see him, and even faster that they were too busy to pay him much attention.

He also learned that he could _force_ them to so long as he misbehaved enough, hence nearly three hundred years on North's Naughty List.

Thoughts of North made the storm thicken. He had said the same words Tooth had after Jack had lost Baby Tooth to Pitch. He couldn't face that again, not now he cared so much for the older Guardian and how secretly desperate he was for North's approval. They hadn't let him explain what had happened the last time, he didn't expect any better now. He'd spent the last three days trying to pretend he hadn't screwed up again.

He was lonely and scared and feeling desperately sorry for himself. The Moon tried in vain to comfort him, but Jack turned his back to the Old Man, childishly thinking that it was his turn to be the one doing the ignoring. He disregarded The Moon's desperate pleas for his attention, lost in a world not unlike the one he had known before, but this time all the more bitter for the knowledge that Jack had no one to blame but himself.

"Feeling sorry for ourself, are we Jack?" The slick, dark voice made Jack spin in shock. He'd come to the coldest, most remote place on the planet. Lake Vostok in Antarctica was below his feet, the ice covering it representing years of accumulated rage and now almost four kilometres thick. It was a place as lonely as he had often felt. He realised bitterly that most of the cold was on account of the remarkably short daylight hours. It was dark for almost half the year. Fitting that Pitch would also seek refuge in such an inhospitable place.

"You look terrible." Jack remarked. It was true. As Pitch stepped into his sight, Jack could see just how ragged his appearance was. Oddly he felt no satisfaction, only sympathy. "You know you only have yourself to blame."

"So it would seem," Pitch agreed readily. "I underestimated you Jack." Jack tipped his head in acceptance of the backhanded compliment, but then Pitch's smile turned nasty. "I hadn't expected you to last at the Pole for so long before you ruined everything. Christmas this time...honestly Jack, are you sure you aren't secretly on my side?"

Jack's fingers tightened around his staff. Pitch was weak, Jack knew he could beat him. He also knew he didn't have to. Pitch had no power over him any more. Physically at least. "Shut up. You don't know anything."

He could feel the anger throbbing through his veins and the storm grew even worse. If it were anyone but Pitch standing with him in it's centre, he'd have been impressed, but Pitch was almost as used to the cold as he was.

"I know everything Jack." Pitch said softly. He took a shaky step forward, his hands outstretched. "I know you believed in me even before you believed in them."

"I still believe in you." Jack said, finding himself repeating Jamie's brave words, "I just don't fear you."

"No one is fearless, Jack, not even you!" Pitch whispered. "And you did fear me, I promise you that. You have the memories in your teeth, Jack, but I was _there_. I've always known who you are, _what_ you are."

Jack shivered in a way that was nothing to do with the temperature. "You're lying."

Pitch shook his head, eyes wide earnest and entirely treacherous. "I don't have to." Pitch glided through the darkness, growing bolder with every moment Jack's hesitation gave him. "You call yourself a Guardian of Children...you _are_ a child, Jack. You always will be."

Jack sneered, "Three hundred and pushing!"

"Ah yes. All those life experiences you have gathered." Pitch said mockingly. "Those relationships you built, those responsibilities you took, those dreams you watched grow old and fade away...oh wait, but that isn't you, is it? No, you spent all that time throwing temper tantrums."

The words cut deeply. Jack struggled not to let them show but he'd never been good at hiding how he felt about anything. When Pitch's smile softened to something almost compassionate, he knew he'd failed. "What do you want?"

"Well I wanted some peace and quite while I licked my wounds, but-" he held up his hands to indicate the raging storm. "Not much of either at the moment. So I suppose I will settle for lending you a helping hand."

"I don't need your help." Jack snapped. He was done with Pitch and called to the wind. As it whistled around him, Jack took to the air, speeding away to the unseen horizon, hoping to escape the darkness and the voice within. He wasn't going to be goaded into a fight. He could be mature and just leave.

Pitch's voice followed him as he ran. "Oh but you do, Jack."

Suddenly his staff was wrenched from his hand and he began to fall. There was nothing to grasp. Jack had only The Moon to guide him, and the storm did a good job of taking away even that dim light.

He was caught before he hit the ground. Pitch's hand wrapped around the neck of Jack's hoodie, holding him aloft. "Not even going to put up a fight, Jack? How disappointing."

"You can't hurt me." Jack said with more confidence than he felt.

Pitch's hand was uncomfortably warm when he patted Jack's cheek. "I'm not going to." He said earnestly. "I told you, I am going to help you." He spread his fingers across Jack's face and the warmth became unbearable. "I'm going to give you the one thing you've been craving all your pathetic existence: a family who loves you."

No matter how hard he squirmed, Jack could't escape Pitch's hold. He panicked, not knowing how things had gone so wrong so fast as his vision began to fade at the edges. An unpleasant sensation rushed through his body and his toes curled. He was cold and instead of being a comfort, it hurt. His fingers felt numb and his body grew heavy and limp in Pitch's arms.

As the last of his vision faded, Jack struggled to hear Pitch's final words, "And then, Jack Frost, I am going to watch as you destroy them."

His ability to fight had deserted him and he slumped forward, consciousness fleeing.


	4. Chapter 4

A quick note to the kind and incredibly thoughtful reviewer who left me a note on the last chapter. I can't respond to you directly so I'll stick it in here! I agree with you 100% based on Jack as we see him in the movie. The Jack I am playing with here isn't an isolated, completely self-reliant character any more. There are people in his life in a significant way for the first time in a long time. He's still processing what that means and it makes him vulnerable emotionally in a completely different way. We know how much he was hurt by his isolation because we see it, but when he starts to care about people and wants them to care back, that leaves him open to a whole different kind of hurt. There's a lot of anger and resentment there that he turns internally. There's also an element of trying to be what he thinks other people want him to be, certainly when he's 'off duty', so to speak. In my head at least he is reverting a little bit back to the teenager he was before, which is where a lot of Pitch's comments come from. I might be doing a completely terrible job of portraying that! As for the MiM comment, it is my personal belief that he only speaks to official Guardians, and since we have no frame of reference for his contact with Jack after the movie, I'm employing a little creative license :D (hence also the reason Jack's being a bit petulant with him. _Now_ the Old Man wants to talk...)

That was very long and rambling. I think what I was trying to say was thank you for your thoughts because I really appreciate them, and hopefully the rest of the story will not disappoint.

To everyone else who is reading, thank you for sticking with it! Here, the plot thickens, so to speak...

* * *

Sandy had been at the Pole for less than a minute before inquiring after Jack. The look he gave North when the Yeti Incident was retold was on the unimpressed side of stern and North found himself holding up his hands in protest.

"What? I do nothing wrong!"

Sandy didn't believe him. Gone were the days when North's word meant anything where Jack was concerned. Tooth was just as bad for that matter. Whenever she stopped by – which was as many times since Jack had moved to the Pole as it was in the thousand years preceding it – she gave North one of those concerned frowns and lectured him on the dangers of hot cocoa Vs tooth enamel. Jack ate up the attention with one of his trademark smirks, his cocky attitude only ever really settling to something softer when Baby Tooth demanded his attention, which he was all too willing to give. Those two were a destructive combination of curiosity, mischief, and eyes that could project the utmost innocence.

The sand above Sandy's head turned into a mini snowstorm.

"No, I haven't looked for him yet. Christmas, Sandy! Gifts not delivered by selves!"

Sandy crossed his arms, the sand turning into a gift box, complete with bow. North felt ridiculously like a scolded child.

"No, I didn't give it to him yet." North protested. "He flew out of window! Can I fly? No, no wings!" He flapped his arms to prove it and ignored the pointed look Sandy sent over his own wing-free back. "Perhaps he visit Jamie, ya?" The sand became a sun, indicating that the weather in Burgess was uncommonly temperate. Not visiting Jamie, then. "We could ask Bunny?"

Now there was a strange relationship. It had improved since Jack became a Guardian, which meant that Bunny didn't insult Jack at every opportunity, and Jack resisted the urge to turn Bunny into an icicle. Beyond that though North doubted they would ever really be friends. Still, Bunny would help them look if asked. Jack was one of them. He'd just complain about it. For the next decade or five.

Sandy pointed at North with a firm finger. He took that to mean: you lost him, you find him.

If it were simply a case of giving the boy a pat on the back and a new toy robot, North would be suiting up and heading out already. He knew how to make children happy, but then he'd thought Jack _was_ happy. Happy people didn't run away with as little cause as Jack did, which meant there was something else he had missed entirely. His reluctance to leave had nothing to do with his believe that Jack could not be found, and more a worry that when North _did_ find him, he'd do and say entirely the wrong thing.

Fearless, ha. Nicholas St North, Bringer of Wonder and Delight, fearless defeater of Nightmares and Darkness, cowed by the mere thought of failure. Pathetic. Pitch would have loved that one.

Ai. "This, this is why I not have children!" North grumbled halfheartedly. He shrugged into his great overcoat and wrestled his shapka off the combined heads of three passing elves. "They make everything complicated."

Sandy nodded his head in delight.

"I suppose you like?" The little man beamed at him, two thumbs up. The snow was back over his head, this time with a little figure skating beneath it. "Yes, yes. We find Jack." It morphed into the gift again. "And give him Christmas present." When the sand changed, it took North a moment to understand what he was seeing. "So he knows he is family, ai, is that what this about?"

Sandy shrugged his shoulders and fixed on an innocent expression that blew Jack's out of the water.

"Fine, be keeping of your secrets. I swear, that boy as skittish as baby yeti."

Sandy shrugged again. He wasn't around all that many baby Yetis. Good thing too. Skittish, really.

North threw open the great doors and a gust of wind blew Sandy back a few paces. North held his ground until a shimmering blur of incandescent light slammed into his chest at high speed.

Tooth was shivering violently, her arms wrapped around her chest and her features dusted with snow.

North wrapped a huge arm around her and demanded the Yetis closed the doors. "Tooth! What brings you to Pole?"

Tooth sneezed delicately. North and Sandy hustled her to hover in front of the fire, and an elf quickly fetched her a cup. It was empty when she tried to drink from it, so the little elf threw it violently at his companion and scurried away to find another. He returned with a whole tray full of steaming cups and squawked at anything that came close to them. The elves had a bit of a crush on Tooth, North had noticed. She _was_ very beautiful.

Gratefully cupping a warm drink, Tooth gradually stopped shaking. "I came as soon as I could." She said softly, her voice quite contrite. "Is he here?"

"Who?" North threw a huge log on the fire and watched as it made the flames crackle.

Tooth continued to look around. "Jack?"

Sandy cocked an eyebrow at North, who felt a bubble of dread brew in his belly. "He's not here."

"We have to find him!" Tooth set aside the cup and hovered at eye level with North. She was fully prepared to head back out into the cold storm. "Pitch-"

Sandy dropped out of the air in surprise while North reached for his blades, only to spot them standing next to the desk. "Pitch! You saw Pitch?"

"He came to the palace." Tooth admitted, her voice broken. "He took Jack's teeth! I promised I'd take care of them after last time, I kept them with mine." Her wings drooped in shame.

"Why would Pitch take Jack's teeth?" North couldn't see the point in it, Jack had viewed all the memories they contained, there was no leverage there to be gained from them, and no magic in helping Jack remember things long passed. There was a reason Jack had given them back to Tooth. They belonged to a different him, he had said, glad to have seen them and know where he came from, but not necessary to his future.

"I don't know!" Tooth shook her head fretfully. "We didn't even see him until it was too late. You know Pitch always likes to make an entrance. If Baby Tooth hadn't spotted him leaving we'd never have known he was there."

That didn't sound like Pitch's style at all. He was all about striking fear into the heart, but how could you fear that which you did not know was there?

"That's all he took?" North asked, blades now in hand before he sheathed them both.

"I think so. The girls are doing an inventory but it will take some time." Billions of teeth to check…ai. "I'm worried about Jack."

"Jack will be fine. Pitch no match for him." North said, projecting confidence despite the ache growing in his gut. "Come, to the sleigh!"

The reindeers were not pleased to be dragged out again after such a long night. Sandy patted the closest one on the flank gently and the beast settled. "I owe lot of carrots." North muttered, taking hold of the reins.

Behind him, Sandy and Tooth took the lowest of the benches, afforded some protection from the wind.

North jerked in the reins. "To Jack!" He ordered, and away they flew.

* * *

It took almost five hours to find the illusive Guardian. After trying all the places they had encountered Jack in before, North decided that the fastest route was to just head for the cold and keep going until his fingers went numb.

Eventually they found themselves at the center of a storm so violent and unrelenting that Jack had to be close to maintain such intensity. North could hardly see a thing and they slowed to a snails pace.

Suddenly Sandy tugged on his sleeve, and in an instant the storm stopped entirely.

The wind died and the snow cleared.

And at the center of the chaos was Pitch.

The sleigh almost crashed into the ice. North drew both blades. Tooth hovered by his side, wings flitting angrily.

Sandy looked serene as ever, but he cracked his knuckles.

They could have used Bunny. North regretted not calling him. They could have used Jack.

"What are you up to, Pitch?" North demanded, jumping from the sleigh and holding both blades out in threat.

Pitch threw his head back and laughed. It was a deeply unpleasant sound.

"Oh you know, the usual."

"Where's Jack?" Tooth demanded. "What did you do with his teeth?"

Pitch's attempt at innocence was not half as convincing as Sandy's. "Jack Frost? Not seen him. As for the teeth? Well, I thought I'd make them into a necklace. They are _so white_ after all." He mocked.

North snarled and charged forwards.

"Ah ah, let's not be hasty!" Pitch wagged his finger like a scolding parent. "You didn't come here to beat up poor little me, you came here for Frost." He took a hold of his robe. "I can't help you with that, but perhaps I could interest you in something else?"

He stepped back, sweeping his robe up from the ice to reveal the small, huddled form of a child.

"Jack!" Tooth rushed to him, her hands reaching for his still shoulders.

North found himself frozen by the sight. Jack's hood was up, something he did when distressed and trying to hide it. He'd never seen the boy so still and quite. Chaos and commotion were his bywords.

"Oh Jack," Tooth gently rolled him over and cradled him in her arms. She brushed back the hood and gasped.

Wild, dark brown hair was matted to pale skin by the snow. His cheeks were flushed a dark pink and his lips were blue. When Tooth touched his cheek in horror, the eyes that fluttered open were not the ice cool blue they knew, but as dark as his hair.

North wasn't aware of moving until he had Pitch down on the ice, a blade to his throat. "What did you do?" He growled, inching closer with the sharpest edge of steel. Sandy pinned him down when he tried to free himself from North's grasp, golden sand swirling around them. "What did you _do?"_

Over in Tooth's arms Jack shivered violently, his whole body trembling.

Tooth's wide eyes looked to him for answers he couldn't give. What could he do?

Below him, Pitch smiled up, wide and ugly, his grey skin gleaming and his eyes alight with malice. "Happy Christmas, North."

Tooth rocked Jack gently and the boy's teeth chattered together lough enough to be heard over the pounding of North's heart.

Jack was human.


	5. Chapter 5

So sorry for the delay. Work went a little bonkers over the last few weeks.

Anyway, Thank you all for your wonderful feedback - I love hearing from you all! Hope you had a very merry Christmas and are enjoying the holidays!

* * *

It only took a split second as Tooth cried out in shock, but as soon as North's attention shifted, Pitch squirmed free and fled into the darkness. North roared in anger, moving to pursue, but was held back by Sandy, who was pointing frantically in Jack and Tooth's direction.

North's response was in Russian, and incredibly rude. When Tooth didn't even scold him, he knew it was bad.

"He's so cold." She stuttered, her own body shivering lightly as the remnants of the storm continued to die around them. "He can't be this cold."

"Jack always cold." North said softly, kneeling at her side. He held out a hand to touch Jack's cheek and recoiled at the frigid touch of skin.

"Not like this." Tooth moaned. Jack shifted in her arms, trying to seek more warmth. His face was pulled into a frown of distress. Sandy reached out and showered him with fine golden dreams. It took a moment, but eventually Jack settled in Tooth's arms, calmer, but still shivering.

North moved quickly, shedding his thick coat and wrapping Jack up snuggly in its folds before pulling him to his chest. "We get him safe." He said, studiously not looking down at the boy in his arms. "Then we figure out what to do." Sandy tugged on his leg. The shapes above his head morphed into a towering rabbit. North nodded. "You fetch Bunny. Meet us at Pole."

Sandy nodded and, summoning a swirl of sand, sped off in search of the final Guardian as Tooth and North retreated to the sleigh.

* * *

Jack hadn't stirred once since North had wrapped him in his coat. The alarming blue tinge to his lips had faded and his skin looked flushed from where it peeked out between folds of brushed velvet and fur. The dark tufts of hair still took some getting used to.

After leaving the sleigh with Phil, North and Tooth retreated into the workshop. Out of instinct, they headed for Jack's room, but halfway there North changed direction and led them to his room instead. A roaring fire had been started, waiting for him after his return from delivering Christmas.

They were just tucking Jack into the enormous bed when Bunny bounded into the room. "What the bleedin' hell is going on here?" He demanded, jumping right to the problem at hand. He caught a look at Jack and his jaw dropped. "What…how?"

"Pitch." Tooth said fretfully. "He did something."

"I thought he was done for." Bunny frowned, edging closer to the bed.

"Fear cannot die." North said seriously.

"But Jack is more than a match for him." Bunny pointed out.

"His staff!" Tooth cried, looking around in alarm. "Did you see it?" She asked North and Sandy. Both shook their heads.

Buried under the mounds of soft bedding, Jack began to moan quietly. Tooth tried to pet his hair soothingly, while North, Bunny and Sandy hovered at the side of the bed, fretting. "Is he sick?" North asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"How should I know?" Tooth cried.

"'I'd say he's blumming sick!" Bunny exclaimed. "I mean, look at him!"

"And you have lots of experience with sick children, ya?" North frowned. The only time any of them had ever been responsible for a child had been when little Sophie had made it into the warren. Caring for a sick child was beyond them.

The jingling of bells by North's feet drew his attention. Two elves stood at the foot of the bed, holding up a plate of partly munched cookies. "I no think cookies what he needs." North shook his head.

"Ice cream? Tooth said. "Don't kids like ice cream?"

"He's cold enough as it is!" Bunny felt Jack's cheek with his paw. "What about chocolate?"

"Eggnog?" North mused.

"Cloves!" Tooth exclaimed excitedly. "You know, cloves are wonderful for gums."

As the three of them debated on what the best remedy might be, Sandy kept his attention on Jack, his cheerful face twisted into a frown. The dancing dreams over Jack's head had already begun to fade.

"Peanut butter!" North bellowed just as the door to his room banged open and Phil stormed in. He had a tray with a bowl of soup and hot milk. There was a set of small clothes draped over his arm and a thermometer balanced on the edge of the tray. "Soup?" North didn't look convinced.

"Should warm him up at least." Bunny shrugged.

Phil set the tray down just as Sandy began to wave his arms at them. "He's waking up!" Tooth fluttered closer, wringing her hands in excitement. "Jack, Jack, can you hear us?"

Jack's long eyelashes began to flutter against his cheeks as he slowly stirred. North imagined his reaction at all the attention, Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, Phil and himself all huddled around his bedside. He'd be terribly uncomfortable and crack a joke, probably at Bunny's expense, just to divert their attention.

North found himself anticipating it with desperation. The frustration and helplessness he'd felt when Jack had run away warred with his fear after seeing him senseless at Pitch's feet. He needed Jack to wake up. He needed to see he was alright.

"Come on, Frostbite." Bunny encouraged. "Time to wake up and annoy everyone."

Not even Tooth scolded him, hearing the same underlying worry that they all felt as Jack's eyes fluttered open.

They waited, breath baited. Jack blinked slowly, awareness dawning gradually. He frowned and sat up abruptly, his hands feeling at the soft bedding he was swaddled in.

"Jack?" North said tentatively.

Jack ignored him and patted at the bed, his dark eyes darting around the room, not looking at any of them.

"Hello?" Jack whispered, wincing as his voice caught roughly in his chest. He coughed, a deep, painful sound, and spoke again. "Hello?"

With a dawning sense of dread, North waved a hand in front of Jack's face. "Jack?"

"Hello?" Jack said again, this time unable to hide an edge of fear as he looked around the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Jack?" Tooth whispered.

Jack threw back the bedding and tried to stand. His legs failed him, and he fell off the side of the bed. Both North and Bunny made to catch him and agony spiked through them both as Jack didn't just slide from their grasps but slid through them entirely.

Bunny looked shellshocked. "He can't see us."

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Jack called out to an empty room, bare of all the warmth and festive decorations North so loved.

"He doesn't believe in us."

* * *

I am working on the belief that Jack was raised a Puritan and didn't celebrate Christmas. Hang with me, I promise this is heading in a specific direction!


	6. Chapter 6

I'm completely overwhelmed by the support I have received from everyone! Thank you for all of your kind words (and concrit! I love it, I do!) This is my first time writing in a long time. I'd say decades but that would be showing my age…

Speaking of age: Jack is supposed to be an eternal 18 year old. Personally I don't buy that he's 18, but I know many do so I am going to leave the exact figure to your own imagination. Let's just say he's a teenager and go with that!

* * *

Bunny had only ever seen pandemonium like it once before, and Jack had been to blame then as well. Alright, granted it wasn't like they could hold the Frostbite responsible for whatever evil schemes Pitch might be brewing, but Bunny certainly intended to blame Jack for the way his heart no longer seemed capable of beating.

"What the bleeding hell do you mean he can't see us? He _is_ us!" Bunny knew he was a lot of bluster and sound, but he didn't deal well with frustration, and no one frustrated him more than Jack Frost.

And Jack, who was slumped on the floor at the foot of North's bed, would usually have accepted that fact with a great amount of pride. Now, he just looked lost. Lost and scared and damn if that didn't spark every protective instinct Bunny had.

Jack Frost was not someone who needed protecting. If anything, things needed protecting from _him._ But this boy, the boy Jack had once been, was human. He was mortal. He was fragile and vulnerable in ways that Jack Frost was never and could never be.

While Bunny and North were fretting like old maids, Phil lumbered over and tried to help Jack to his feet. He grabbed the boy's arm gently and wailed when he passed straight through him.

"I don't think he can see any of us." Tooth said sadly. "He doesn't believe in magic."

"He's a kid! All kids believe in magic!" Bunny protested. Even the ones who were raised to hate it, somewhere, deep inside that special place all Guardians protected, they believed in something.

"Well clearly he doesn't!" Tooth snapped. There were tears in her eyes and Bunny immediately moved to comfort her. Wrapping one paw around her small shoulders, he tucked her in close and tried to calm himself.

North shooed the elves out and Phil followed morosely. Bunny had long suspected that Phil didn't dislike Jack half as much as he pretended to.

He sympathized.

"What do we do?" Tooth looked up at Bunny imploringly. "His family died centuries ago!"

"His family is right here." Bunny shook his head. "We'll figure this out." On the floor, Jack continued to shiver violently. He tugged the covers from the bed and dragged them into the corner, his eyes feverish and bright, darting from one side of the room to the next. "We have to."

Three hours later and all they had managed to do was stop North from marching out and tearing Pitch's arms off. Personally Bunny was all for it, but Tooth and Sandy hadn't been impressed. Mores the pity. Bunny could get behind a little arm removal right about now…so long as he got to shove a boomerang or two where the sun would never dare to shine first.

Jack had fallen into a fitful sleep, oblivious to them all as they paced and plotted. It was a bitter pill to swallow, to be invisible to the boy who had long been invisible to the world.

It hurt more than Bunny thought he could stand.

"Pitch did this! Pitch can undo it." North waved his arms violently, dislodging items from shelves to rain down around him. "He need encouragement…I happy to provide!"

"Get in line, mate." Bunny sighed. He's stopped looking in Jack's direction right about the time the kid had dropped off to sleep. He was such a small thing, he got lost in the blankets and looked so heartbreakingly pitiful curled up tight against the cold. "Sandy, can't you do anything about…" Bunny waved his hand at the way Jack twitched and whimpered.

Sandy shook his head. There were already fine grains of sand circling Jack's head, but the problems wasn't his dreams, Sandy explained, but his sickness.

"He's not going to get better here." Tooth pointed out. "It's too cold."

"We could take him to the warren," Bunny offered. It was nice and warm there.

North shook his head. "Too hard to defend."

"What's to defend?"

"Pitch did this for reason." North growled. "We don't know what."

"You think he'll come back?" Tooth was up and hovering over Jack in moments. She was fierce when protecting her own – even Bunny wasn't crazy enough to mess with her on some things.

"There's more going on here than just turning Jack human." Bunny admitted reluctantly. "What's the point? To make him vulnerable?"

"To make _us_ vulnerable." North said, looking at Sandy who wore such a mournful expression on his face Bunny felt his own ears droop. "How do we protect child who does not believe?"

"We're not going to let anything happen to him!" Tooth said firmly, flying over to look North square in the eye.

"And how do we stop it?" Bunny felt his temper rise again. "He can't see us. What are we supposed to do, just keep the nipper locked up in a tower for safe keeping?" North's expression brightened in hope. "We're not locking him up in a tower!"

"We could go to the Tooth Palace." Tooth suggested.

"Pitch has already broken in there once. He's found his way past all our defenses."

"So what, nowhere on earth is safe for him right now?" Bunny demanded. The idea made his insides squirm. They had to be able to protect Jack. If they couldn't protect one child – their child – then what good were they?

"Er…guys?" Tooth broke the thoughts from Bunny's head. Sandy tugged on his first sharply and pointed to the open door. "Where's Jack?"

"Curious bleedin' little imp!" It might have been funny under any other circumstances, but the way in which they all spurred into a panic spoke only of their fear. The corner Jack had occupied was empty.

They found him soon enough, blanket wrapped around his thin shoulders and his face flushed with fever. His bare feet padded silently against the cold stone and his toes curled, but he ventured deeper into the Pole with a single minded curiosity that gave them all a sudden spark of hope. For the first time, they could see their Jack in this strange human boy.

"Stay with him." North whispered needlessly.

Bunny nodded silently and moved closer.

He wondered what Jack was seeing. Every resident in the Pole was present as Jack descended the stairs. They parted like an ocean to let him past, hopefulness and fear on their faces.

Jack noticed none of it.

Not the yetis or the elves. Not the giant globe that sparkled and shone in the darkness. He moved silently onwards in a trance before stopping on the balcony where they had first tried to make him one of them.

The Moon shone full and heavy overhead, his glow falling on Jack in an enveloping light. Bunny knew Jack's relationship with his creator was strained. The Man In The Moon had only recently started to repair the space between them, finally able to reach his wayward child now Jack had fulfilled his potential.

"Please," Bunny said, looking up at the night sky. "Please help us."


	7. Chapter 7

A few of you have brought my attention to updates that confirm Jack is 14 not 18 (which isn't what it said on the card with my son's Happy Meal toy, but whatever). 14 works a lot better for this story than 18 so I am running with that!

And also speaking of running…this part is unforgivably short. It's also shamelessly fluffy and not a small amount cheesy. Heck, it's more an interlude than a chapter, but I was adamant this scene would take place in the story. I humbly beg your forgiveness. Hard core angst is just around the corner, I promise!

* * *

Jack fell asleep under the light of the moon.

He looked peaceful, and it was easy for North to pretend that the boy wasn't curled up on a cold stone floor, miles and centuries from his own time and place.

There was no home they could take him to for comfort, no family left alive to care for him. The only connection Jack had with his old life was the lake in which he'd drowned, and North would be twice damned before he allowed the child anywhere near it in this state.

No, he'd have to stay here where they could protect him from Pitch, and if that meant he existed in a cold, isolated world once more then…well, Jack was their responsibility. It was their job to protect him as much as it was his to protect other children. Sometimes being responsible for someone, for a child, meant you had to do things you never wanted to do. And if they had to hurt Jack to keep him safe, well…

It wasn't as if Jack could blame them when he didn't even know they were there.

Soft tendrils of dreams drifted past North's face and circled Jack's trembling form. Sandy hovered tentatively by North's side and tugged on his shirt sleeve.

"I know he's cold, Sandy." North said wearily.

Sandy tugged again and pointed to Jack. He then pointed to North, going so far as it poke him firmly in the chest before jerking his head over to the fire that raged in the chimney place.

Frowning, North stood from his ancient chair, the leather creaking as he rose. Approaching Jack was suddenly the scariest thing in the world. His head swirled with recriminations and guilt and he would have cancelled Christmas for Jack to wake up, blue eyes shining with mischief and that coy smirk tugging at his lips.

Of course he did nothing like it. Curled in on himself and clutching the blanket, this human child bore no resemblance to their fun loving troublemaker.

He wasn't North's Jack.

He wasn't anyone's Jack, though. Not any more. He had been, once upon a time, and now he was in North's keeping.

Sandy nodded encouragingly, throwing more dreams at Jack and projecting comfort and warmth.

North bent low and lifted Jack into his arms, fully expecting Jack to pass right through him.

He didn't, and North's expression lit up like a Christmas tree. He cuddled Jack gleefully to his chest and bounded carefully back to his chair. Pulling closer to the fireplace, North rearranged Jack on his lap so that between him and the flickering flames, the fine shivers slowly began to die down.

Sandy disappeared briefly and returned with Bunny and Tooth.

Tooth sniffled, her hands covering her mouth as she fought tears. After a moment, she hesitantly reached out to touch the only part of Jack North hadn't swaddled in blankets and his own arms. Her fingers slid through his dark hair and the touch made her shoulder slump in relief. "Oh Jack." She whispered, perching on the arm of the chair so she could more comfortably continue stroking his hair.

Bunny hovered protectively behind them, his back tense and his eyes alert, despite the relative safety of the Pole.

They all had their jobs to do. North provided comfort and warmth, Tooth radiated love, and Bunny was the silent, stalwart protector.

And Sandy…

Sandy might once again prove to be their savior.

The little man hovered close by, his eyes screwed shut in concentration as he focused all his energy on Jack's dreams.

The sand moved with liquid grace, forming images quickly before morphing into new figures. Fairies, sleighs, bunnies and Easter Eggs, cookies, teeth, snowflakes and dreams. North could just about make out each of the dreams Sandy conjured before they finally settled.

Five figures formed above Jack's head. Five perfectly formed, miniature versions of themselves. They all huddled close together, their arms embracing in a way that had never happened in reality, though North suddenly craved the chance to make it so.

"Remember, Jack." North said softly, cupping Jack's cheek in his hand and feeling the fever burn against his skin. "You have to remember us."

How successful Sandy's efforts were, North didn't know. Awake, Jack could not see or hear or touch them. Asleep, maybe they could reach him.

But either way, for the first time ever, Jack Frost stayed quite and still, surrounded by the overwhelming, unconditional love of his family.


	8. Chapter 8

The plot slowly thickens! Thank you again for all the wonderful support. This chapter is the longest yet.

(and to the reader who wants to know what someone of my age is doing writing fanfics based on a film for kids… mind your manners! Life is way too long to spend most of it being an adult, trust me. I take great pride in never having grown up, thank you very much!)

* * *

North set Jack down in front of the fire shortly before Sandy allowed him to emerge from his dreams. They all hovered close by, anticipation warring with fear as Jack slowly emerged from sleep.

It was a strange thing to watch. Bunny had seen Jack sleep before, but only briefly. He'd dozed off drifting on the wind as they had returned from their final confrontation with Pitch and it seemed that was the only place he slept. Despite having a bed at the Pole, Bunny suspected he'd never actually used it.

The light slumber had been all Jack had needed to replenish his near boundless energy and he'd been as hyperactive as one of North's elves by the time they had landed.

In human form, Jack curled closer to the fire and seemed greatly reluctant to wake. He stirred slowly, eyes gradually blinking open as his mind catalogued his surroundings.

Then he woke all at once, jerking in fear and scooting backwards on the stone floor. His gaze went right through them all and Bunny knew he wasn't the only one who felt his heart sinking.

Tooth sniffled sadly by his elbow and Sandy looked positively wretched. They had all hoped…

Jack hugged his arms around himself and screwed his eyes shut, rocking back and forth for just a moment. He looked scared out of his mind. Bunny wondered what thoughts were going through his head. Poor kid.

After a few moments though, he seemed to pull himself together. Running a hand through sweaty, dark hair, he shook his head sternly. "Come on Jack." He muttered. "Stop being a child."

And with that, he climbed to his feet.

"Something very special indeed." Muttered North who shook his head when they all looked at him in confusion.

Jack wrapped himself tighter in the blanket and clambered to his feet. Taking a long, shuddering breath to steady himself, Jack squared his shoulders and set about exploring the workshop. If he was looking for clues or a way out, they weren't certain, but the more curiosity overtook his fear, the further he ventured into the complex labyrinth of North's home.

Elves scattered about his feet, all wanting the attention Jack had never been shy of showing them in the past, and all looking confused and slightly heartbroken when he walked right through them. Eventually Phil rounded them up and shooed them away, but not before pointing at Jack and then wagging a stern finger in North's direction.

They'd have a riot on their hands if they didn't fix this soon. It was no small mercy they weren't at the Tooth Palace. Bad enough to see their own heartbreak reflected back on the confused faces of the elves: Bunny didn't think he could stand to see the fairies witness Jack in this condition. Tooth's anguish was more than enough to cope with.

"Whole lot of trouble, that's what you are, Jack Frost." Bunny muttered to the boy's back as he followed him up a winding set of stairs. "Told you right from the start I did: that Jack Frost is nothing but trouble."

"Bunny!" Tooth scolded him angrily, one glance at Jack as if he could hear Bunny's complaints.

Bunny ignored them. "No, really. First it's the blizzards and the ice and the bloody freezing temperatures and the harassing of my poor eggs but at least he could be useful when the mood struck him. Now look at him! He's as helpless as a bleedin' lamb tied up for slaughter! What if Pitch _does_ come back? You think he'd stand a chance against him, because I don't! Look at him, he's terrified!"

Jack didn't look all that scared when Bunny pointed sharply in his direction. He was running his fingers over the smooth stone wall as he climbed the stairs, oblivious to the cruel words Bunny was unable to hold back.

"You are frightened for him." North didn't share Tooth's outrage. If anything, he looked pleased.

"Of course I'm bloody frightened for him!" Bunny scoffed. "Look at him, North! A stiff wind could blow him over!"

A stiff wind very nearly did. As Jack reached the highest tower, close to his own room, the wind that rushed in from the open window recognized its favorite play companion and quickly tried to lift him in the air as it had so many times.

Despite Bunny's complaints about Jack's thin stature, as a human he weighed far more than he did as a Guardian. As the spirit of winter, he weighed as much as a handful of snow or a fistful of autumn leaves – little enough to ride the wind and float on a breeze.

The wind didn't have a hope of carrying him as a human, but that didn't stop it from trying.

Jack shouted in alarm as he was pushed back into the hallway, his blanket billowing like a cape around his shoulders.

He struggled forwards, into his bedroom to the open window.

Bunny could almost hear the mournful cry of the wind as Jack forced the window closed, killing any attempts to carry him away.

"Yikes," he muttered, shivering at the temperature in Jack's bedroom. "Couldn't you have found him a nicer room?" he asked North.

North shrugged his huge shoulders. "He wanted this one."

Up against the window, Jack had his fingers pressed to the glass, his eyes fixed with horror at the endless white beyond.

"Oh dear." Tooth set herself down on the edge of Jack's bed as the boy's thin shoulders shook with a suppressed sob. He pressed his face to the glass and shook, tears rolling down his cheeks.

The more he cried, the more distressed the wind became. It rattled the glass in desperation, trying to reach him. Jack stumbled back, tripped against the bed and landed awkwardly on a neatly wrapped blue package.

His fingers reached out to touch the writing scrawled in the side.

_Merry Christmas Jack_

"Oh my," Tooth breathed. "Sandy, can he see it?"

Sandy was all but spinning in excitement, his arms stretched above his head in a universal symbol for victory. The dreams might not have worked as well as they would have liked, but something, somewhere, had laid a seed in Jack's mind.

Jack looked around guiltily then shook his head in disgust. "It's not like there are any other Jacks around here." He said to himself, rubbing the tears from his cheeks.

The four Guardians leaned forward in anticipation as Jack carefully eased open the wrapping and revealed the gift that lay inside.

North had harassed them all for months about what to give Jack. Personally Bunny hadn't seen the point – they never gifted each other with anything if only out of practicality, and he wasn't sure why Jack was suddenly the exception to that rule. Now he was glad North had insisted, because resting on Jack's knee was the huge leather bound book that held all the knowledge of the Guardians within its pages. It was the book North had read from when they had officially given Jack his title, and it had lived in the Pole for millennia. North had been its official keeper, right up until the day they had decided that task should rest with Jack.

North had hoped that Jack would accept it as the final, irrevocable proof that he was one of them – never to be cast aside or ignored again.

It had been Baby Tooth's idea. Whatever had happened between her and Jack was a secret she guarded jealously, but she understood him in ways they often did not.

Wonder lit Jack's face as he ran his fingers over the embossed cover. The large G was elaborate and covered with gold. Bunny doubted Jack had ever seen a treasure like it.

North started to bounce on his toes in delight as Jack opened the book and turned to the first page.

"Here in lay the lives and deeds of those who have dedicated their existence to protecting the hopes, dreams and innocence of the world's children. " Jack read the words slowly and with an uncertainty that suggested reading wasn't something he did often or all that well. He traced the letters with his fingers and carefully sounded out each one. At the end of the first page, he flipped through the book, pausing when his eye was caught by one of the elaborate pictures drawn inside.

His fingers caressed Bunny's own likeness. They touched the carefully rendered wings that made Tooth unique and traced the lines of dreamsand across all the pages that spoke of Sandy.

Hours stretched by as Jack spoke aloud of their own stories, blissfully unaware that those very beings he read about had all gathered around him in a circle of hope and expectation.

He finished the chapter on North and turned the page. Their breath caught.

"The fifth and final Guardian was chosen from a most unlikely source. The embodiment of Winter, Jack Frost bridges the world of the Guardians with those they seek to protect. Eternally a child himself, Jack may never truly belong to either world, but cherishes and protects them both, as he is cherished and protected by them."

"Did you write that?" Bunny asked North, who made no effort to scrub the large tear that hung from the end of his nose and threatened to vanish into his beard.

"Man In Moon." North said. "These words are his."

Jack ran his fingers over the silhouette outlined in silver ink and read the rest of the chapter in silence.

The light in the room started to dim and Bunny realized they had been gathered around Jack for much of the day.

Jack carefully eased the book closed and hugged it to his chest as the darkness crept across the floor. He looked across the room, his chin resting on the edge of the book. "I could do with a Guardian right about now." He said sadly to himself.

Sandy pounced. The threw a fist full of sand into Jack's face and caught him when he slumped over.

"Sandy! Bloody hell mate, what's up with you?" Bunny jumped to his feet.

Sandy passed Jack to North and pointed at his dreams excitedly. They were clear and well formed, the same dream Jack had visited last night, with all five of them huddled together.

Realization dawned on Bunny. "Are you doing that?"

Sandy shook his head and beamed happily.

Jack was dreaming of them all on his own.

TBC

* * *

Okay, so maybe the plot hasn't thickened all that much. But it shall, as the next chapter sees the return of Pitch!


	9. Chapter 9

And now, finally, there is actual plot…

(Speaking of plot, I am having the insane urge to write an AU where Jack was never supposed to be alone and Man In Moon pressgangs a seriously unimpressed Pitch into looking after him, much to the disgust of the other Guardians. I'm pretty sure it would consist of Jack being obnoxiously adorable and Pitch being a snarky grump. Should I?)

* * *

Pitch didn't just hide in the dark; he travelled by it.

Much as the rabbit could speed through the earth through his warrens, or that insufferable brat Frost could drift with the wind, Pitch used the darkness to move about the globe at great speeds.

He began his journey in the dark trenches of northern Syria and moments later was surrounded by toys and other frivolous trinkets, watching from the shadows as Sandy and his merry band of do-gooders simpered and prattled around Jack Frost's sleeping human form.

Pitch kept hidden and watched as they fretted around the boy.

He was a small, sickly looking thing, his growth stunted by malnourishment. He'd grown up in hard times. Pitch liked that about him. North and the others, they forgot what it was like being human – they forgot what it was like to be afraid, to be helpless.

Time for a little reminder.

On cue, the boy's face twisted in terror as his dreams turned in on themselves.

Fragile things, dreams. Sandman could spin as many beautiful thoughts as he liked to try and fool impressionable children into believing in fairies and obnoxious egg carrying bunny rabbits, but his success and his ability to control those dreams ultimately lay with the child.

Most children were easily manipulated. They were innocent, they were pure. Untouched by darkness, they believed readily in the yarns spun for them, and Pitch had to actively battle for control of their dreams.

But not with children like Jack.

No, children like Jack smiled so big and laughed so loud so that no one else had to know how bleak their worlds really were.

And then, well, then the boy had gone and died at the bottom of a lake so dark Pitch could comfortably call it home.

Pitch had been there that day, drawn to Jack's side by the reeking terror that had poured from him in waves.

He'd been curious, of course, when the boy had been chosen, and had stayed for a while, watching as he stumbled from village to village, crying out for someone to see him.

That had been fun.

Actually, it had been memories of how utterly pathetic the child had been back then that had led Pitch to where they were now. Months spent in solitude, dwelling on his failure and nursing the hatred for those responsible, and slowly a plan had begun to brew in the back of his mind.

The fear in the room was palpable, and it wasn't all Jack's.

The wretched Guardians, all so brave and noble, so _fearless_ brought to their knees by a scrawny, sniffling waif of a child who couldn't even see them.

Short of ridding his life from their presence entirely, this was by far the best revenge Pitch could have imagined.

Jack's last tangible memory was of the dark. It was of ice-cold water trickling down his throat and filling his lungs. It was of pain, and terror and hopelessness.

Pitch drew on them, drawing them out like a poison to infect everyone in the room. The darker Jack's dreams became, the more agitated the other Guardians got.

They demanded Sandman fix the problem when of course there was nothing there to be fixed. They couldn't go back in time and stop the brat from dying.

"You know," Pitch chose that moment to step out of the darkness and into the moonlight. They all jumped in fright and it made his soul sing in delight. "I don't think I have ever seen you this scared before. And all over one little boy, how sweet."

He saw North's charge before the big man moved. His outrage was always so predictable and Pitch stepped back into the shadow before a single blow fell.

They outnumbered him, as always, and his strength had yet to recover fully after his humiliating defeat, but he had an ace up his sleeve this time.

"Wake up, Jack." He whispered as he appeared behind the bed. Leaning over to whisper into the slumbering boy's ear, he took a moment to rid him of the last of Sandman's dreamsand. The haunted look on the boy's face as he jerked awake was close to perfection.

The four Guardians skidded to an abrupt halt. They froze, torn between engaging Pitch and helping Jack.

"What do you know," Pitch made to brush a strand of Jack's hair back from his forehead and smiled in delight when the boy flinched at the touch. "Seems like fear is stronger than hope after all."

"Get your hands off him, Pitch!" Tooth said shrilly.

Pitch ignored her, batting aside one of the rabbit's hurled projectiles and focusing all his attention on the boy huddled below him. "Hello Jack," he purred. "Do you know who I am?"

Jack was too frightened to answer. Even if he could, Pitch doubted the boy would give voice to his true name. No, he'd call Pitch a demon, a monster, a devil.

Fortunately it wasn't really the name that mattered.

His close proximity to the boy was all that was stopping an outright attack. They feared catching Jack in the crossfire. It was foolish. They could stop this if they wanted to, but they were afraid.

"Answer me, Jack." Pitch whispered darkly. "Who am I?"

He edged even closer, pressing the frightened child back against the wall behind the bed. Given the sheer amount of terror rolling from him in waves, Pitch was almost impressed when Jack was able to summon enough words to shakily accuse him of being a demon.

"Close," Pitch purred, "but not quite."

He reached for Jack again, but this time there was a burning sting as golden sand wrapped around his arm and jerked him away. The expression on Sandman's face would have frightened even the bravest of men, but still Pitch smiled.

Jack took the chance to slip from between Pitch and the bed. He turned, leaving his blanket behind him, and fled from the room.

He ran straight through both North and the rabbit to escape, and their pained moans made Pitch laugh in delight. "Run, Jack! Run and hide. I'll be coming for you, sooner or later, and then we'll have some real fun."

Only the night protected him from Sandman's ire. He slipped back into the darkness and fled through the corridors, given speed by the shadows.

He moved almost as fast as Jack, whose bare feet hardly touched the ground in his haste to escape the oppressive darkness that hung around Pitch like a smog.

He ran through the halls and down to the great entrance hall.

Pitch killed the flickering lights around him as he ran, creating more safe places for him to hide in and torment the boy.

He could hear the Guardians call the boy's name and continued to laugh as Jack ran further from safety and deeper into the night.

"Run, Jack!" He sang, skipping across the rough stone steps that lead down from the main entrance and into the mountain passages that protected the workshop. There the wind whistled through the passes and the temperatures we so low that tears would freeze on your cheeks the second they were shed. "Run away child!"

He didn't have to stay hidden as the others raced past him after Jack. They spared him not a second glance, too fixated on the boy to even care that he was still there. Hollering Jack's name, they vanished into the night after him.

Pitch waited until he could hear their voices no more before turning back into the workshop. "Right then, to business."


	10. Chapter 10

"This is bloody ridiculous." There was ice hanging from the end of Bunny's nose and his paws were shaking so hard it threw off his natural equilibrium. "We'll never find him like this!"

He and Tooth stayed close to North's back, using his huge frame as a windbreaker. The ice that settled on her wings made it harder for her to fly and she hugged her arms around her chest miserably.

North, for his part, had violence written across his face. He struggled forwards through the deep snow, eyes fixed on what Bunny could only assume was the horizon. The weather was so poor and the night so dark it was hard to see anything other than that which was illuminated by Sandy.

Only Sandy seemed unaffected by the weather, flying on ahead. He'd sent out tendrils of golden sand in every direction, hoping to find trace of Jack.

"If my tail falls off because of that irritating little…" Bunny shook away the complaint. He and Jack Frost were not likely to ever really get on, but Bunny was loyal to the Guardians and thought of them all as family, which meant that Jack could be considered the bratty little brother he'd never wanted and didn't really like all that much. Likewise, it meant that Bunny owned the monopoly on messing with the kid and if anyone else tried he'd pound them into the dirt.

And that was just Frost.

The kid they were chasing might one day grow up to become the bane of Bunny's life, but until then he was just another child who needed their protection. It didn't matter who he was or would become. A Guardian protected children, whether they were the top of North's Naughty List or as precious to them as Jack – or both, in this case.

Bunny was jerked out of his thoughts by Tooth's cry of pain. She fell from the sky and Bunny only just caught her. North stopped his trek and turned to shelter them both. Ever so gently, Bunny held her close. "What's wrong, Tooth?" He asked.

"We can't stop!" Tooth protested, her teeth chattering. "I'm fine."

She wasn't. Bunny could see the ice that had formed on her wings, testament to how terribly cold it was.

They'd all been out in the cold before – such was unavoidable when you had a close association with a little terror like Jack- but for all their complaints, Jack had actually protected them from the worst of the it and even in the sleigh, she's had some shelter.

North unwrapped the sash from around his waist and gently draped it around Tooth's shoulders. "Bunny, take her back to the Pole."

"No, we have to find Jack!" Tooth was already struggling to get free from Bunny's arms. She was strong, she was a fighter and she was a mother. Every instinct she had called out for her to keep searching until she could take Jack into her arms and keep him safe. But no matter her resolve, she was no match for nature's cruelty. Feathers and fine spun wings were not made for battling the cold.

"You no use to Jack as popsicle!" North pointed out reasonably. "Bunny, take her, and work with Yetis. We must cover more ground!"

"You got it, mate!" Bunny nodded, already tapping the ground with his paw. The earth swallowed them whole and just being out of the wind made the cold so much more bearable.

By the time they were back Tooth had already stopped shivering, but Bunny still handed her over to the elves for some care while he went in search of Phil.

* * *

North did not subscribe to violence, but he was perfectly capable of it. It was seductively easy to spend his thoughts on ways in which he could inflict pain and suffering.

Pitch's taunts still rang through his ears, made all the worse for their truthfulness. North had never been so scared in his entire existence.

He knew of course that he cared for Jack, as he cared for each of his fellow Guardians. He would give no less of himself in their protection than he would the children under his care.

The crux of the problem wasn't North, and it wasn't even Pitch. It was Jack. Jack's life was no more precious to him than Sandy or Tooth or Bunny. The difference was that it had been Jack, and not the others, who had abruptly and unapologetically turned all of their lives upside down. They were all guilty of hiding in their work, but in doing so had lost sight of much of what it meant to do what they did. Jack, in his wild, untamed ways, had forced them all to face some uncomfortably truths and in doing so had dragged them rather unceremoniously back into the world.

They couldn't lose him now.

"Sandy? Anything?" North bellowed over the wind that howled angrily through the passageways of the mountains.

Sandy shook his head sadly and continued to search.

They trekked deeper into the mountains. It became harder and harder to continue as the wind turned all of its helplessness and fear into a frightful storm.

North marveled at Jack ever having made it so far when he…

Jack _couldn't_ have made it that far. He was a small, barefooted boy who was already sickly and running on fear alone. If North couldn't physically battle the storm then Jack had no hope.

Cursing himself loudly, North called to Sandy. "We have to go back!"

They'd missed him somehow.

Sandy must have reached the same conclusion because he swooped down and seized a hold of North's shirt, hoisting him into the air with a strength none would have expected of him.

North flailed a little but settled as golden sands warded away the worst of the weather and they sped back towards the Pole.

This time they circled around to the south, where the wind was less strong and the mountains provided a greater protection.

North hoped there was enough left of Jack's rational mind to have put some thought into where he ran, and so they shot across the icy canyons and passageways, looking for something, _anything…_

Then finally…

Sandy deposited him feet from the huddled form hidden beneath the rocky outcrop. Jack had managed to find the one place of shelter and hadn't hesitated in burrowing in. It was that and only that, North suspected, that had saved his life.

"Jack!" North cried, bounding over to the boy, his boots leaving huge imprints in the snow.

He was shocked when Jack stirred at his voice, his head slowly turning towards North.

North tried again, hope swelling in his chest. "Jack?"

Jack stared up at him, hazy eyed and confused

Seizing all of his courage, North dropped to one knee and took Jack's shoulders in his hands. They remained firm and his heart soared in his chest.

Even crouched he wasn't able to maintain eyelevel with Jack, but he tried his best not to be as intimidating as he knew he could be.

Holding one stern finger to Jack's face, he said quite firmly. "You will not fear me." He didn't give Jack a chance to protest. Removing his overshirt, he wrapped Jack in its folds and lifted him into his arms. Sandy swooped down again, took hold of North's collar in one small fist and carried them up and away from the snow covered ground.

Jack buried his face against North's chest as they flew through the air, completely overwhelmed by the sensation.

North held him tighter. "It's alright. I won't let you fall."


	11. Chapter 11

The Pole was awash with activity by the time Sandy and North returned. Phil barely managed to maintain order among the Yeti and Elves alike, his authority as North's point man stretched to breaking by the excitement at seeing Jack returned to them unscathed.

All of the attention made Jack inexplicably shy but when North set him down by the fire, he was not the only little boy present.

Bunny had the good grace to look slightly ashamed of himself, but he rested one paw on Jamie's shoulder none the less. The tell tale flower that popped up between the stone slabs of the floor gave the game away almost as quickly as Bunny's inability to look North in the eye.

"He won't thank you for this." North settled for just shrugging his shoulders and fussing over a nearly catatonic Jack. It would be a miracle if the child hadn't undone any of the progress they had made towards restoring his health, and North was torn between wanting to hug Jack tight or shake some sense into him. Honestly, running into the middle of a snowstorm in the dead of night…boogeyman or no boogeyman. Children did the most stupid things sometimes.

It was no surprise that Bunny was less concerned with Jack's opinion of him than he was the boy's health and safety, though, and North couldn't bring himself to be angry. He'd save that emotion for Pitch.

Bunny had clearly briefed Jamie as well, because instead of shock, the boy looked outraged when he saw Jack. His dark eyes were narrowed angrily and small fists were balled at his sides. Standing even shorter than Jack, who himself was somewhat vertically challenged, and wearing blue and yellow pjs, Jamie Bennett should not have struck as a particularly intimidating figure, and yet …

Seeing his hero so cowed by his environment clearly didn't sit well with the boy. Somehow though, he let go of his anger and cautiously approached Jack, who had gathered enough wits to clutch the shirt wrapped around his shoulders.

"Hi." Jamie said kindly. "I'm Jamie."

Jack stared at him without answer for several minutes. North doubted Jamie had ever shown so much patience in his life, but the child found it easier to wait Jack out than any of them had.

Eventually Jack swallowed and nodded his head. "I'm Jack." He looked torn between hope and suspicion and his head was no doubt spinning.

"Nice to meet you, Jack." Jamie said politely. He hopped up onto the arm of the chair and crossed his legs, balancing with the inherent grace of childhood, and no doubt completely oblivious as to how much the pose was reminiscent of Jack's many artless sprawls. "You wanna sit by the fire? It's pretty cold."

Jack quickly agreed and scooted closer to the fireplace with Jamie. "Are you dead too?" He asked curiously.

"I'm not dead." Jamie frowned and shuddered at the thought. "Neither are you."

North supposed that was a technicality, but wasn't about to labor the point. "How do you explain them, then?" He asked, keeping one wary eye on North and Bunny. Both Sandy and Tooth had taken advantage of Jamie's presence to return briefly to their duties, though North knew their hearts would not be in it, and they'd return sooner rather than later.

Jamie's eyes widened in surprise at Jack's blatant mistrust of the others. "Them? Jack they…" he paused and changed tactics. Jack could be a devious little monster when the mood struck him, and it seemed he was managing to teach Jamie more than just snowball fighting. "What's the last thing you remember? Before Pitch, I mean."

Jack's face screwed up as he struggled. "I…we were skating. My sister and me. The ice was thinner than we expected…"

North really hopped Jamie was too young to read between the lines here. It was one thing to see your hero reduced to his childhood fears by the evil manipulations of the boogeyman. It was something else entirely to know that hero drowned in the very lake you played on with your friends. Jack would never forgive him if they inadvertently ended up traumatizing his first believer, and North had no desire to spend the next few centuries the subject of his ire.

"Pitch did something to you." Jamie patted Jack's shoulder. He was just young enough not to be put off by the idea of showing too much emotion and it seemed the touch was calming to Jack.

"Pitch," Jack asked hesitantly. "Was that…was he the demon?"

"Pitch is not demon." North couldn't keep silent any longer. Demons were antiquated things, harmless now really, and Pitch was much worse. He said as such and cursed himself as Jack's face paled even further.

"But you kicked his butt already!" Jamie enthused, clearly hating the way Jack had none of his usual spark. "You could do it again, no problem."

"I did?" Jack frowned. "I could? When?"

Jamie looked expectantly at North and Bunny. "Er," Bunny stammered.

"You forgot." North blustered. "But we help you remember."

"Remember what?" Jack demanded. "And why should I trust you? Where am I? Who are you?"

"One question at a time, Frostbite." Bunny held up his paws in defense. He was stalling because, like North, he likely didn't have a clue as how to best approach reeducating someone who lacked a significant proportion of their memories.

To buy more time, North introduced them both and explained that Tooth and Sandy would be back with them shortly.

"Santa Clause and this is the North Pole." Jack's response was flat and unimpressed. "I read about you. In that book."

"Yes!" North beamed at him. "Yes, in Guardian book! Me and Bunny and Sandy and Tooth and you!" It took a lot of restraint not to seize the boy and spin him around happily, but North imagined that level of exuberance might not be well received.

"Me?"

"You're the Guardian of Fun." Jamie gave him a conspiratorial wink.

"And mischief, and cold toes and slippery stairs and…" Bunny winced when North elbowed him in the stomach. He'd only meant to be gentle, but the blow still made Bunny stumble back a few steps. "Crikey, alright mate!"

Jack pulled his knees up to his chest. "So why am I here?"

"Pitch-" Jamie started, his face falling when Jack shook him off.

"No, I mean, if he's out to…" his expression shuttered, "hurt me or, I don't know…why am I here? What does it have to do with you?"

North couldn't explain why that question hurt so much. "We are friends." He said softly. "We want to protect you."

"From Pitch," Jack clarified.

"Yes." North nodded.

"Because he is the boogeyman and he is after me."

"Because he's a sneaky bloody sod and he doesn't do things without reason." Bunny said, strangely calm. "There's something more going on here."

Jack latched on to that quickly. "Yes. I mean, I'm nobody."

Jamie shook his head furiously. "You're _Jack_." He said, looking at Jack as if he'd personally hung the moon.

"What does that even mean?" Jack asked hopelessly.

"Means you are special." Bunny said gently. Then, as if catching himself, he added, "And a brat."

Jack looked to Jamie for clarification. Jamie giggled. "You two like to make fun of each other."

Jack's mouth formed an o of understanding.

North hesitantly stepped closer, pleased when Jack didn't recoil in fear as he had with Pitch. "So you believe us?"

"No." Jack said firmly.

North and Bunny shared a glance and smiled at the lie. Jack could see them. He believed, even if he didn't want to admit it.

North shrugged. "Good enough for me."

They could work with that.


	12. Chapter 12

With Pitch on the loose, Jack without his powers, and North wearing a deep grove in the workshop floor, Bunny probably shouldn't have been all the surprised to see little Jamie Bennett take control of the situation.

Jack had gone and found a pretty special kid to latch on to and the boy was all set to save their sorry hides for the second time in less than a year. At the rate he was going, he'd be eligible for Bunny's job in the near future.

It wasn't in his nature to thing negatively, despite what some – Jack – might say. He was by his very nature a hopeful being. He was also supremely practical. He wasn't prone to North's flights of fancy or Tooth's scatty absentmindedness. He saw a problem, he went about fixing it. Sometimes that worked; sometimes it failed spectacularly.

This time, he figured he was in for a win.

Under Jamie's careful tutorage, the Yeti's had plied a bewildered Jack with chicken soup and mugs of sweet tea. The boy's eyes had widened at the taste and smell of the treats the elves attempted to ply him with, drawing a line under the question of Jack's undernourished frame that Bunny wasn't aware he had.

Fed, watered, and wrapped in every blanket, soft furnishing and eiderdown the Pole had to offer, Jack had dozed off in front of the fire while Jamie continued to direct his willing army of helpers.

"When I get sick," Jamie informed Phil, who had a pencil and pad of paper in his large hands, ready to take notes, "my mom gives me medicine that tastes of strawberries. Do you have that?"

Bunny highly doubted they did. A sudden image of Phil and his friends trying to navigate a human pharmacy brought a grin to his face, despite the seriousness of the situation.

Phil grunted a response. Despite not speaking a word of the same language, Jamie and the large Yeti seemed to have little trouble understanding each other. For that matter, Jack had always been able to talk to the Yetis as well. Bunny had chocked that up to one of Jack's many idiosyncrasies, but perhaps all children had the ability to communicate with the mythical race?

While Phil went on his quest to fetch Jack medicine, Jamie curled up by Jack.

Bunny blamed his highly acute sense of hearing for the fact that he could hear every word the little boy said. He wasn't eavesdropping.

"When you're feeling better we _have_ to explore this place!" Jamie gushed, looking with wide eyes around the Pole. Even following so quickly on the heels of Christmas, there were enough wonders to keep two small boys entertained for a century or three. Bunny was rather impressed Jamie had withstood the temptation to explore, but then he supposed Jack would always be more important.

Phil returned just as Jack was waking and Tooth arrived from the Palace, Baby Tooth in tow. Tooth, upon seeing Jack awake, coherent, and more importantly, _believing_, had launched herself at Jack at high speed, knocking the boy off his feet and back down into the pile of cushions he had been attempting to free himself from.

Jack umphed but obligingly helped Tooth back up again as she babbled excitedly in his ear. He clearly had more manners as a human than he did a Guardian.

Within seconds of getting her arms around Jack, Tooth was sobbing in earnest.

"Please don't cry!" Jack looked torn between panic and wonderment as he patted the shimmering feathers on Tooth's arm.

She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "I'm sorry Jack, I was just _so worried about you."_

"You were?" Jack asked, stunned.

He sounded so completely bewildered by the fact that Tooth started to sniffle again.

"Bloody women." Bunny huffed, wrapping an affectionate arm around Tooth's shoulders to soften the blow of his words. Tooth was fearless and could be scary as Hell, but her heart was tender and took wound easily, especially where her family was concerned. "'Course we were worried, Frostbite. You scared the seven bells out of us!"

"Told you they liked you." Jaime said in a sing-song voice.

Jack stared at him, open-mouthed. Phil took the opportunity to force half a bottle of medicine down his throat.

Coughing and spluttering, he was completely unprepared for North's giant hand falling on his back in what was intended to be a helpful manner. "You feeling better?" North's booming voice was hopeful as he steadied Jack on his feet.

"Yeah." Jack choked. "I'm swell."

"Most excellent!" North beamed. "So now we plan. Where's Sandy?"

"Oh no we don't."

Jamie Bennett barely came up to North's hip, but he stared the big man down, arms crossed over his chest. "You can plan all you want." He said firmly. "Jack's going back to bed."

"I really do feel better." Jack protested.

"So, he better!" North pointed.

"And you have how much experience with sick kids?" Jamie said sternly. When North spluttered, he narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. "Speaking both as a kid, and a kid who has been sick, I'm saying he needs to go to bed." Some of the firmness dropped from his face and he looked sheepish. "My mom always sends me to bed when I'm sick."

"I wouldn't know." Jack shrugged. "I don't think I've ever been sick."

"All the more reason to do as you're told then." Jamie announced.

Tooth quickly joined in. "Maybe you should, Jack. It's not up to you to figure this out. Get some rest." She patted his cheek gently. Baby Tooth, who had so far stayed out of Jack's reach, chirruped sadly in agreement. Poor little mite, she probably didn't know what to make of a Jack who wasn't falling over himself to play with her.

"But-" Jack continued to protest, despite the fact that Jamie was tugging on his arm.

Bunny almost felt sorry for the kid.

Almost. "Go on, Frostbite. You can help when you're feeling better. For real." He added quickly.

Their Jack would have frozen something by now. Temper tantrums were his thing, especially when he felt left out of something. They could see some of his defiance in the kid's eyes, but eventually he shrugged and gave in, following Jamie morosely down the corridor.

* * *

Jamie looked up at Jack, startled still by the dark hair and eyes. He looked so ordinary.

He looked, Jamie thought with a small thrill of delight, like he could be Jamie's big brother for real.

And like all big brothers, they eventually got irritated. "I do feel better." Jack complained.

Jamie grinned up at him. "I know."

"So why did you make me leave?"

"Because I've been thinking." And he had, ever since Bunny had come and fetched him…ever since he saw Jack looking so scared and hurt. "We need to go on a mission."

Jack looked unconvinced. "A mission?"

"To find your staff?"

"I have a staff?"

"You have a staff. It's magic. Maybe if we find your staff, you'll get your memories back." A nasty thought suddenly occurred to him. "You do want that, right?"

Jack hesitated just a little too long before saying, "Of course. But can't they help with that?"

"Subtlety kinda isn't their thing." Jamie smiled, remembering Jack's chuckle as he had said those exact same words. "Besides, they'd only try stop us."

"Stop us from what?" Jack ground to a halt and Jamie almost tripped over him.

He looked back over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being watched by any prying eyes, large or small. Seeing no one, he reached into his pocket and pulled a round, glowing glass ball out for Jack to see.

"Pitch stole it from you. We're going to steal it back."


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you so much for your continued support. It really does brighten up my day (and I live in Scotland, so believe me, much brightening is needed this time of year...) The plot is finally starting to thicken, and Pitch channels his inner Bond villain.

* * *

Travelling via Snowglobe was considerably less fun than any Jack sanctioned means of transportation, but Jamie figured that needs must.

Still, he handled it far better than his friend, who tumbled out onto the cold, wet stone in an undignified flail of limbs.

Jamie tucked the Globe back into his pocket and helped Jack to his feet. He already regretted not convincing Bunny to give him time to dress in warmer clothes, but he was still more tolerant of the cold than most kids were – Jack had seen to that.

It was strange then to see his friend shivering so violently, despite the layers he was wearing.

It was a strangeness that was negated by a flood of warmth when Jack frowned down at him and then removed his outer layer to wrap it around Jamie's shoulders.

"I don't need it." Jamie protested. It did no good; Jack ignored him.

Instead he looked around, another shiver wracking his shoulders, this time one of disquiet and unease. "Where are we?"

Jamie clutched the shirt and followed Jack's gaze. "Pitch's Lair."

Jack had only ever talked about his visit to the depths of Pitch's Kingdom the once. Even at his full strength and fresh after delivering the Nightmare King such a crippling blow, Jack had been unnerved by memories of the place.

_It was cold, but not a nice kind of cold,_ Jack had said, his pale eyes looking out across the lake as they sat side by side in the dying evening light. _The wet kind of cold. Clammy and slimy and vile. It felt like something was crawling under my skin, and then _he _came…_

Jamie could feel his own breath catch in his throat. The air felt damp and cloying, the heavy stench of decay growing richer with every inhale. His palms felt sweaty and it was far too cold to explain why sweat was breaking out on his skin. Everything was dark and nothingness stretched out forever on either direction.

Panic crept up on him in ways he had only experienced once before. Cornered in that parking lot with all of Pitch's considerable power fixed on killing him, Jamie had been terrified.

But then Jack smiled at him, warm and gentle and so at odds with his ice cool looks and powers: Jamie had felt like he could take on the world.

Friendship had that effect. It was friendship that had saved Jamie and the Guardians from Pitch the first time, just as it was friendship that have saved Jack when he'd been left without his powers once before.

And friendship would prevail again, Jamie knew.

He pushed down on the panic and found the warmth that Jack had ignited in his center.

"We shouldn't be here." Jack breathed. His dark eyes were filled with worry as they darted around, trying to make out shapes in the darkness. He pulled Jamie closer to his side, his hand resting against Jamie's shoulder.

His other hand was trembling slightly at his side, but it was the only tell Jack had. His dark eyes were so different from the ones Jamie remembered at it was impossible to read them as he once had.

Still… Jack had stepped between Jamie and harm more than once, just as Jamie had done for him.

They were brothers, and Jamie was not about to let Jack down now.

So he took Jack's hand and led him forwards into the dark.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, GONE?"

Surprisingly, it was Tooth whose shriek of concern nearly deafened half the population of the Pole. North was too busy swearing in time with Bunny. Sandy, who had arrived only moments ago and whose eagerness to see Jack had alerted them to the missing boys, kicked over a flowerpot in anger.

"Gone where? We are at _The North Pole_, for pity's sake! There is no where to go, and I doubt they'd just head out into the storm again." Tooth raged. Her tears had long since been pushed aside in favor of the terrifying anger only a mother could ever display.

"Maybe they got distracted?" Bunny tried to be the voice of reason. "I mean, Jack's got the world's shortest attention span, and I doubt Jamie's much better."

Phil, who had reported the news, shook his head. He'd already checked and double-checked every inch of the Pole himself. He knew how prone to panic his Boss and friends could get, especially when Jack was involved. Rational thinking tended to escape all of them.

Sandy's face brightened as a lightbulb appeared above his head.

"Maybe Reindeer…" North muttered.

Phil shook his head again. There was no way two boys could control the sleigh, even if one of them was the physical embodiment of chaos and mischief.

"When we find that kid, I'm stapling him to the bloody floor." Bunny growled.

* * *

"So, where do we start?" Once Jamie had settled his own panic, Jack seemed to do the same.

"Pitch would never expect you to come here." Jamie said with certainty. "The others never have, and you…well, you didn't like it much."

"I can't imagine why." Jack muttered, a hint of his old wit shining through the tight worry on his face. Jamie's heart soared. "Ok, so what exactly is it we are looking for?"

"Your staff." Jamie said with a patience he didn't feel. "You carry it everywhere with you. It helps you fly and control snow and ice and wind. It's pretty neat."

From the look of Jack's expression, he clearly didn't buy into the idea. He barely was able to wrap his head around the existence of Guardians he could see and touch. The notion that he – plain, simple, good for nothing Jack – had magical powers and had saved the world was completely ludicrous.

It made Jamie's tummy hurt to see his best friend so unconvinced of his own specialness. And it made him all the more determined to see the problem resolved.

Pitch had been defeated without delivering a single injury, and in Jamie's mind that meant all they had to do was hold onto the hope and love that had saved them before.

He took Jack's hand again and pulled him deeper into Pitch's domain.

* * *

While from the darkness, Pitch watched.

The boy was right: he hadn't expected this. He hadn't expected them to turn to the human brat for help _again_, but perhaps that was a good thing? Clearly the Guardians were desperate and that was all Pitch needed them to be.

He let the two boys wander deeper into his home and smiled.

They'd not find Frost's staff. It was well hidden – right under North's nose.

And if this new turn of events served to escalate his plans well, history had taught him to be adaptable. The pieces were in place, so who really cared if a few moves had been skipped?

He followed the boys as they walked, unaware of the nightmares that stalked their steps.

He'd make little Jamie Bennett watch, of course. He hadn't planned on going after the boy for vengeance, but then perhaps Fate was finally on his side for once?

Yes, the boy would watch. And he would be the perfect messenger.

Tonight, Jack Frost was going to die.

Tonight, Pitch Black would have his revenge.

And that was just the start.


	14. Chapter 14

Long time, no update! Sorry about that. It seems that along with bringing snowdays and ice skating, Jack also brings wicked bouts of pneumonia. My two week stint in hospital was followed by the horrors of returning to a house that had been left in the hands of a five year old boy, his teenage brother, and their domestically challenged father. Its something of a miracle there was anything salvageable at all. Still, home now!

(Just a small warning: there are some mild elusions to child abuse in this chapter. Also, cliffhanger. Eek!)

* * *

Going after Pitch directly was, Jaime started to understand, officially the worst idea he had ever had. And he had had some pretty awful ideas, up to and including the time he'd convinced Jack to help him hunt down Bigfoot.

Turned out the reason no one had seen the big man in so long wasn't because human beings were generally an intolerant species, but because Bigfoot was genuinely the least sociable creature in existence. He'd punched Jack right through the side of a mountain, and it would forever be the one event Jack would bring up when trying to remind Jamie that he should probably leave the adventure planning to someone who had a better track record.

Not that Jack could really talk. He still had to do all his work in Ireland via long distance after he'd upset a leprechaun – or maybe _The _Leprechaun, Jamie couldn't remember – back during the Irish Potato Famine.

So between the two of them, they didn't exactly have the best credentials for breaking into the lair of an evil madman. Certainly not when the trump card of Jack being, well, _Jack_, was truly null and void.

The deeper they ventured into Pitch's lair, the more logic slowly started to creep back into Jamie's thinking.

To be fair, there was usually a good reason why ten year olds weren't allowed to plan battles. Or raids. Or have responsibility for anything other than walking their dog, and feeding the goldfish Jack had accidentally killed last spring.

He swore under his breath and Jack's eyebrow rose. "I should wash your mouth out for that." He said mildly, and obviously with no intention of doing such a thing.

Still, it peaked Jamie's curiosity. He wanted to know more about Jack's childhood and had for as long as they had been friends. Before there had been an unspoken agreement between them both not to talk about it, if only because it made Jack sad and neither one of them wanted to admit as much. Now though…

"Did your mom do that to you?" He asked curiously. "Wash your mouth out with soap, I mean?"

"Cloves." Jack grimaced with an expression of supreme distaste.

"I've never tasted them." Jamie admitted. He was glad of the conversation. The darkness around them was oppressing and it was almost impossible to walk quickly for fear of colliding with the walls and stone outcroppings that seemed to appear from nowhere. Jamie wished he had a torch.

Jack seemed to agree. "They are absolutely disgusting." He admitted. "I'd try avoid them."

"Noted. Avoiding cloves, soap and other disgusting gargly things at all costs. I guess it's a good thing my parents have a sense of humor."

Jack smirked at him. "With all this casual rule breaking? I'd say."

"We aren't breaking any rules. We're just sort of…bending them a little." Jamie hedged, using Jack's own words against him.

"There aren't any rules about breaking into the Boogeyman's lair?" Jack didn't believe him.

"I guess there probably should be." Jamie admitted.

Jack smirked at him again, an expression so familiar it made Jamie's heart ache. "I suppose it's more a case of common sense, yes? Sane people don't go looking for trouble."

"We aren't looking for trouble. We are looking for your staff."

"My magical staff." Jack said flatly.

"Just think of the stories you'll have to tell when we find it." Jamie tried to cheer him up. Jack always had the very best stories.

Jack snorted. "And exactly who am I going to tell? Assuming my parents wouldn't just hand me straight over to our Pastor for consorting with demons – not to mention making a home visit to one of them – I can promise you they wouldn't be all that pleased with me." His expression suddenly became wistful. "Though my sister would probably enjoy it." He looked down at Jamie, his eyes soft, "she's about your age."

Jamie knew that. He smiled encouragingly. "My parents wouldn't like it either." He admitted. "This is probably the worst thing I've ever done. My mom would go mental if she knew I was here."

"I'm not sure if it is the worst thing I have ever done…I suppose it depends who you'd ask. It's enough to make my father reach for his belt at any rate." Jack steered Jamie out of the path of a looming boulder and they both had to duck as a swarm of bats swooped low from above. Jack's arms covered Jamie's head as he covered him protectively.

Crouched together, Jamie could feel the heat radiating from Jack's skin. He could also see the goose pimples raised as well. For all that Jack seemed to be ok, Jamie knew he was still sick. Maybe even dangerously so. They had to find his staff, and quickly.

He grabbed Jack's hand and tugged him onwards as soon as the last bat flew overhead. Their footsteps echoed strangely as they pressed deeper into the dark.

It wasn't until the sound of the bats faded completely that Jamie stopped to consider the last words out of Jack's mouth.

"Your dad hits you with his belt?" He might be ten, but he wasn't completely naïve.

Jack frowned at him. "Doesn't yours?"

"No!"

"Huh."

"Jack, that's awful." For some reason it made Jamie's eyes sting with tears despite the complete nonchalance in Jack's expression.

It only got worse when Jack shrugged. "It's better than the birch, that _stings."_

Jamie swore again.

This time, Jack didn't scold him. Instead, he tripped over something on the ground and landed with a heavy thud and a yelp of pain.

"Jack!"

"Ow." Jamie flailed for his hand in the dark. Their palms collided and he tried to pull Jack back to his feet. "What the –"

Jack felt around in the dark, looking for whatever it was he had tripped over. Bending down, Jamie began to help.

The floor was freezing cold to the touch, and damp.

In fact, it felt a lot like…

Jamie was close enough to see now and fear spiked through him.

Jack had frozen beside him, on his knees, his hands spread out across the black ice beneath them. The expression that twisted his face was nothing short of terror. "No, no, no, no _please_ no…"

"Jack-" Jamie reached for him again, his fear vanishing in the face of Jack's.

Suddenly light flared above them, illuminating a vast cavern. The far reaching walls were black and glittering, the light reflected on the glassy floor beneath them.

Jack's eyes were screwed up tight against his fear. Jamie shook him gently to get his attention. "Look, Jack, the light!"

"All the better to see you with my dears." Pitch's voice echoed in the cave so loudly that the very walls trembled.

The ice fractured.

"Jamie." Jack breathed, grabbing on to Jamie's arm so tightly it hurt.

Jamie had no chance to respond as the ice beneath them shattered and they tumbled into the freezing water below.


End file.
